Meitantei and Tantei
by MewShiny
Summary: The not very long-awaited sequel to 'Tantei and Meitantei'. Now things get serious, as they receive answers more questions come. Can Shinichi and the rest find his real body? Can they take down the Black Organization? And just who is "Moonshine"?
1. To the one who follows death

**I told myself I would make a sequel if even one person asked...  
**

**For those who wanted it this is the continuance of Tantei and Meitantei, for those who haven't read the previous one I'd advise you to do so, or at least read the last chapter to see the basis of this story. Last story was mostly focused on Conan, this one will be mostly focused on Shinichi, that's why the titles are how they are...  
**

**Just a bit of a summery of the necessary facts: _Conan and Shinichi are separate people, right now Conan's spirit is in Shinichi's body. They are brother's and it's been established that Shinichi either died or was shrunk (to an age younger than seven) and ran off after that night at tropical land without ever contacting anyone since. Conan, Shinichi (his spirit is in Conan's body, they're sharing), Professor Agasa, Haibara, Heiji, and Kaito have decided to find Shinichi's original body and defeat the black organization._**

**Couplings; Ran and Shinichi, Conan and Haibara, Kaito and Aoko, Heiji and Kazuha, and various one sided relationships but nothing without support.  
**

**The POV will change on my whim, it'll usually be first person but third person will also happen sometimes, there will always be a line of just '...' as transition between POVs.  
**

**Sorry for rambling so long. Please enjoy and please review.**

**-._.-._.-**

Somehow it was decided that we were going to find a way to return me to my real body (assuming it's still alive) and then take down the Black Organization. Of course we really didn't know how we were supposed to find my real body when it had been missing for almost a full year now, in fact since it has no spirit at the moment it's probably laying around comatose somewhere unable to do anything, it'll be amazing if it's still alive when we find it.

"Yep," Akako, the supposed witch, said with the utmost confidence, "This boy has two souls."

As of yet I still had no proof that this red-headed creep with a pretty face was in-fact a real witch. She had yet to do anything that could be defined as witchcraft and she didn't at all appear as you would typically envision a witch.

The only thing strange was the somewhat overcautious attitude that Kaito seemed to be taking around her, ever if it was just slightly, he was on edge as though he believed she might curse him at any moment, contrary to his aloof and cocky attitude that he usually had as Kaitou Kid.

"And isn't this your rival? That child -Edogawa Conan- that has the aggressiveness of the devil?" The red witch asked, by her tone I could tell she was a bit worried that he was associating with me.

"Hm? Is that how you describe me to others?" I asked Kaito, my tone was a bit more annoyed than I meant for it to be.

"No, no, she came up with that description on her own," He said defensively.

Haibara laughed to herself a little bit, "It's an accurate description though."

"Eh? But Haibara!" Conan's flustered reaction embarrassed me, even if they knew it was him who did it and not me it still felt wrong.

I was already tired of sharing a body with Conan, it was just too annoying. If it's true that my real body is still alive (though younger) then I'd like to return to it as soon as possible. Though it's still possible that I'm already dead... what would I tell Ran if that were true...

"Any chance dat ya can find de body dat de extra soul belongs too?" Heiji asked. He seemed to be taking this whole supernatural-stuff-exists thing in stride and had already accepted my entire ridiculous situation before I'd even had the chance to blink.

"It doesn't work that way..." Akako explained, "Both souls have been in this body for a while, it's difficult to tell which of them was originally in the body and which was introduced later... and also... there's _something_ protecting one of them..."

I didn't like the way she said 'something' as though it were an extremely sinister thing that she would rather not be involved with in any way.

The witch continued, "I'm not sure what kind of situation you're in but... I can't help you. Nothing good will come out of that black thing..."

"Black!" I asked. Suddenly feeling as though she had just told me I had a deadly contagious disease.

"That's the only way I can think to describe it..." She said vaguely, "I can't even tell if it's supposed to be a blessing or a curse. It seems like something that will draw misfortune to those around you, but it also looks like it protects you... I think it would be dangerous for me to try to remove it..."

_'Is it just me... or did everyone take a step back after hearing that?'_ I asked Conan, he assured me that he noticed it too.

"So you can't find him then?" The professor said, he was clearly a bit disappointed.

She seemed to think for a moment, "I'll ask... But I can't give you any guarantees that It'll be successful, come back tomorrow and I'll let you know if I find anything out."

At least we were one step closer, before now we didn't even have a lead.

...

"Aniki, you still haven't killed that kid you went after the other day," Vodka said, there was really no reason behind it he was only curious, "That kid escaped from a locked room and in his place there was a teenaged guy, but you haven't tried to kill the kid since..."

Gin, cold and merciless as always, responded in a somewhat bored tone, "That kid got captured too easily, it was like he didn't care if he lived or died, I've left killing him to another member. It's that _'niichan'_ of his that I'm interested in."

"Another member? Who?" Vodka asked. Wondering who Gin would trust to get rid of a child that had been skilled enough to escape him.

"That prodigy that one of the scientists found a while back..." Gin replied, he seemed to have to think for a bit to remember the name, "... '_Moonshine_', I think is what they call him..."

"You're sending out someone that young?" Vodka was honestly shocked.

"Let a child face a child, you and I have more important things to deal with."

"...Right."

...

Akako woke me up in the middle of the night when she crawled into my room through my window. I'll admit I was creeped out by it, not only because she's tried to curse me on several occasions, but because she seemed shaken.

"Kaito. The kid with two souls..." She said in a low tone, "something bad is going to happen to him soon..."

What? But that kid can handle anything, he sees murders on a regular basis, he even bests me sometimes... there's no way that anything bad could happen to him.

"What kind of 'something bad'?" I asked just to be sure.

"I-I'm not really sure... but Lucifer told me," She began, the rest of what she spoke sent chills down my spine. It was far worse than any prediction she'd made regarding me.

I didn't even quite understand the meaning of all of it, but from what I did understand there was no way it was a good omen. Even Akako, who knew very little about the kid's situation was able to realize that.

I called Conan/Shinichi and asked that he immediately meet me in a park that was located between the area's where he and I lived. He argued that it was hard for him to get out of the house so late at night without looking suspicious, but when I assured him that it was urgent and could not wait until morning he agreed to come.

I told him about how Akako had crept into my room and what had happened after that. I had her repeat the prediction that she had told me.

"_To the one who follows death like an old friend,_

_ The thing you seek has been consumed by crows,_

_ And now is as a piece of their twisted nest._

_ If you still wish to retrieve what you lost,_

_ Then you must put your most precious thing at risk,_

_In this your comrades will not help you,  
_

_For when the deciding moment comes it will be only you.  
_

_Once it is lost that thing will never again return to you._

_Watch your back,_

_The shadow that follows you will never truly disappear."  
_

The detective child's face showed an expression of horror, and at the same time sadness. He definitely knew what this meant, but strangely enough he didn't seem to be afraid.


	2. It'll be fine

**This story probably won't be updated as quickly as TxM (my shorthand for Tantei and Meitantei) usually was because I haven't worked out all the plot details yet and I want to be able to foreshadow the ending better than I did for TxM... sorry for the confusing choice in titling I might change it later...  
**

**I kind of wish I was able to come up with something less straightforward for Akako's prediction in the last chapter, as it is it's way to easy for you lot to see the meaning behind it... well at least it's somewhat cryptic. There are a few double-antandres in there if you start thinking too deeply into it...  
**

**I hope you enjoy, please review.  
**

**-._.-._.-  
**

I laid in bed sleeplessly thinking about the witch's prophecy for the rest of that night.

Those words of hers were definitely ominous, there was no way to put a good spin on them, they could only be taken as an ill omen. On the other hand it confirmed that what I'm looking for exists. My real body is out there somewhere, whether or not it's alive is another matter.

_'To the boy that follows death like an old friend' That means me, it's referring to how almost everywhere I go a murder happens, it's saying that these murders aren't my fault but that I follow them...  
_

_'The thing you seek has been consumed by crows,' could only mean the black organization plays a part in this, but then what could 'and now is as a piece of their twisted nest' mean... _No matter how I thought about it, it made no sense. _It says that I can get my body back but to do so... 'you must put your most precious thing at risk'... that definitely means..._

_Ran.  
_

_My comrades, Kaito and the rest, 'will not help' because 'when the deciding moment comes' I'll be alone. '__Once it is lost that thing will never again return to you.' meaning_ if I fail, I'll never get another chance. And... 'Watch your back, the shadow that follows you will never truly disappear' does that mean that even if we manage to win the Black Organization will still be around?  


I could only hope that whatever told that witch all of this was wrong.

...

Today Conan came up to me with a uncertain look, like he was thinking about telling me something but couldn't decide whether or not he should. His conflicted face was so cute I almost hugged him then and there, but then he said it...

"Ran-neechan... I'm actually not related to the professor..."

"Heh?" it was so sudden, I couldn't help but be surprised. "What do you mean?"

_Don't tell me... I was right all along? He really is Shinichi. He's finally going to tell me?_

"I'm Shinichi-niichan's little brother," He said in a very serious tone.

"Wha-What?" I stuttered. _Shinichi is an only child! What kind of joke are you playing Shinichi?_

"Just what I said, I'm really Shinichi-niichan's little brother! I was born in America and mom and dad decided to keep me a secret for no apparent reason! I just wanted to tell you..." He trailed off.

My head was spinning, _is it true? Is he lying? It'd be really weird to lie about something like that, right? I have to ask Shinichi..._

"I wanted to tell you and Shinichi-niichan to be happy together, so you could really be my real neechan someday..."

_So cute! I really hope so too!  
_

...

Later Ran-neechan called Shinichi-niichan to ask if I had been telling the truth. He was a little mad at me for a while, but I think he realized that I was just trying to get him to stop worrying so much, then he wasn't quite so mad anymore.

Besides it didn't really make much difference for Ran to know that I was Shinichi-niichan's little brother. She treated me the same way she always did, and actually she didn't seem as sad without Shinichi-niichan there knowing she had her own mini-Shinichi-niichan... She seemed relieved.

At school the next day Shinichi-niichan and I told Haibara about the creepy prophesy that the witch-lady gave us. That made her worry a lot, but she should really just trust Shinichi-niichan and I to pull through it all.

Oh yeah, there was also a call from that English teacher FBI lady, Jodie-sensei.

"Hey Cool Kid!"

"Jodie-sensei," I responded, "What's this about...?"

"That woman gave me another call, another new organization member is on the move, this time the codename is 'Moonshine'," She said, she paused a moment before continuing, "from the sound of things you are Moonshine's target, she wasn't able to give me hardly any information on him but apparently he's very young."

"Eh? I'm the target?" I asked, though my questioning tone was mostly fake. I should have expected becoming a target after what happened last time...

"Yeah, she sounded very certain. So be careful okay? Bye-Bye."

With that she hung up.

_'Ne, ne, Shinichi-niichan, I'm being targeted now...'_

_'It'll be fine... I won't let either of us die.'_

...

At that point none of them had any idea what they were getting into.

If they had known... they probably would have never tried to do what they did. Or maybe... they would have still tried.

Fools... every single one of them.


	3. It's nice to meet jibun

**Guess what... Unlike last time this time I've come up with two endings, a 'Happy' End and a End ... Both of them seem pretty good in my head so I'm going to try and line the story up for both and at some point it will probably branch into an ****α** (Alpha) and **β** (Beta) storyline right as it gets to the crisis point. But there's a chance that before then I'll abandon one of the ends and just keep things normal... so don't get your hopes up  


**With this chapter the real action begins, Moonshine appears! (Man... why didn't I pick a cooler sounding alcohol than 'moonshine'? Well I don't know much about alcohol but all the other organization members code-names sound somewhat intimidating... Moonshine sounds so... [I hate to say it but...] gay.) I originally thought about having him transfer into Conan's class but decided that would be really stupid... this is much better. By this point everyone probably already has an Idea about who Moonshine might be... but I will NOT confirm (or deny) it!  
**

**Not to much humor in this chapter... but there are a few obscure jokes. Grr Heiji is no fun in a serious situation, typing Osaka-ben (or in this case slang-English) is hard! Crap I rambled too much... well please enjoy and please review.  
**

**-._.-._.-  
**

The second time that our full group got together, we didn't achieve very much. We were meeting at a seemingly random park because we lived in different areas and transportation was a hassle.

The supposed witch, Akako Koizumi, explained the prophesy she'd been given by Lucifer. Despite Kudo-kun telling him not to Conan-kun told us that there was an organization member targeting him, codename: Moonshine. Hattori-san had (through unknown connections) managed to take a look at Tropical Land's security footage from the day that Kudo-kun had gone missing, but he wasn't able to find any new information. Kaitou Kid hadn't turned up with anything new either.

In other words the only new information we had to go off of was a 'prophesy' made by someone who has yet to prove she is a witch. And the knowledge that someone is after Conan-kun.

The meeting closed with no event. It wasn't until after the meeting when I was about to climb into the professor's yellow beetle after Conan-kun/Kudo-kun that something happened.

I heard a nearly silent click behind me.

I could feel that there was a person behind me, an organization member. But... there was no killing intent.

That person spoke with no emotion at all,"Ai Haibara... No... '_Sherry_'... you are... not needed."

The person's voice was hoarse as though it were difficult to talk, it had an enigmatic tone that made it impossible to tell if it were a boy or girl. Even so it seemed familiar, like I should definitely be able to recognize this voice.

_They called me 'Sherry'... that means my identity has been discovered... I'm probably going to die now. Kudo-kun said he would protect me, even he can't save me in this situation... at least he and the professor should get away..._

Before I could say anything to warn Kudo-kun I was shot. A loud banging sound rang out three times, once for each of my legs, and then my right arm.

"...Haibara!Haibara!" I could hear Conan-kun/Kudo-kun shouting, I couldn't tell which it was. My vision was already fading, my consciousness was becoming less and less...

"HAIBARA!"

_It's probably Conan..._

_ Kudo-kun would have been calmer..._

I woke up in the hospital the next day.

...

I didn't tell Haibara what happened after she fainted. I didn't want her to worry for me any more than she already was.

That night...

"HAIBARA!" I was shouting, but when Shinichi-niichan realized that the shooter was still standing there he immediately switched out with me.

"You," Shinichi-niichan said in his I-really-hate-you-but-I'm-staying-calm-anyway tone, "You're 'Moonshine' aren't you?"

"Yes."

He was completely silhouetted, I couldn't tell what he looked like. But he was definitely younger than me.

"Why did you shoot her? I'm your target right?" Shinichi-niichan's calm demeanor was slipping, he probably wouldn't be able to keep his cool much longer.

"Sherry won't... die from something... like that..." He said hoarsely, as if he had difficulty saying each word, "You have... too many... allies... I will fight you... when... you have none..."

Shinichi-niichan didn't say anything to that, he was thinking: _Why bother getting rid of all my allies, it would be better to just attack me sometime when I am alone, plus it'll seem suspicious if people I've been hanging around are all being shot in such a way that it doesn't kill them... How old is this killer anyway, he doesn't look any older than five at the most!_

"You are... Conan 'Edogawa'... right?" Moonshine asked but didn't wait for an answer, "It's nice... to finally... meet... _jibun_."

**(INTERJECTION! If you don't understand '_jibun'_ then go watch episode 651 or read chapter 779 :P This story is still set in Japan so just assume their speaking Japanese all the time so I can make the weird plot twist lines in Japanese if I want too, cause some things are hard to translate and it keep the same meaning.)**

_'A-re-re? Does Moonshine have Osaka-ben like Heiji-niichan?'_

_'Er... I guess so, but it's not near as annoying as Heiji's... It really only makes sense if he meant to say 'you''_

"Until we meet... again..." Moonshine said quietly, before running off. Shinichi-niichan was about to chase after him but realized it would be better to get Haibara to a hospital, so Moonshine got away.

_It's really strange though, I get the feeling that I recognized Moonshine's voice... but I can't seem to put my finger on it. It's like it's a voice I hear everyday... oh I know he sounded like Minami Takayama with a cold._

...

I got a call from Kudo not long after we had parted ways.

"Heiji."

I could easily deduce from his tone that something had just happened, something really important. No matter how important something is you should still at least greet a person.

"What is it Kudo?"

"Haibara was just shot..." He paused for a moment, "By Moonshine."

"Eh? Her? But he's supposed ta be targeting you, ain't he?" I asked, I'll admit I was worried, "Is she okay?"

"She's fine, he purposely didn't hit her anywhere that would kill her."

_Hmm? Dat's strange..._ I replied, "But dere's no good reason fer him ta do somethin' like dat."

"Yeah, I was concerned about that too, but he said something about me having 'too many allies' and that he'd fight me once I had none," He said calmly.

"Ya aren't callin' me ta tell me ta stop helpin' ya so I don't get hurt are ya, Kudo?" I asked. I knew all too well he had a 'it doesn't matter what happens to me as long as other people don't get hurt' kind of personality, but even if he was against it I planned to help him anyway.

"I know, even if I tried to say something like that, you would still try to help me anyway. You always go head first into dangerous situations..."

_Busted..._

"So why call me now den? Ya could have called me after ya got ta de hospital ya know." I could hear the car sounds in the background, it was obvious he was in that professor's beetle on the way to the hospital for that little girl.

"Moonshine might be from Osaka."

"Eh? 'Might be' ya seem pretty unsure dere," I replied, _course he's not sure dat lil' Tokyoite knows nothin' 'bout Osaka._

"He said something in Osaka-ben... but everything else he said was in standard Japanese," Kudo said, "So either he's from Osaka but was trying to hide it and slipped up accidentally using Osaka-ben or he was trying to tell me that you're next..."

_hm... dat could be bad..._

"Could he have been tryin' ta throw ya off with a fake lead on his identity?" I asked.

"Well, I guess he could have... but... he looked about five so..."

"Five? De evil Organization sent a five year old after ya?" I was honestly surprised.

"Yeah, it seems so," He said, clearly also in doubt about it, "So I was hoping you could look into it..."

"Yea, sure. No promises though."

"Also... be careful, okay?"

_ Idiot, it's_ you_ dat needs ta be careful, he's tryin' ta_ kill_ ya..._

"You too."


	4. I'm not hiding anything from you

**Wow... maybe I foreshadowed a little bit too well... I guess it was a bit too easy to guess Moonshine's true identity... for those that haven't already got a guess I'll probably wind up revealing it in the next chapter... I've left too many hints for a meitantei like Shinichi to not figure it out soon...  
**

**Those of you who think you have Moonshine figured out why don't ya try ta figure out the ending, the 'prophecy' is (as I said in the second chapter) extremely straightforward, it was actually difficult getting Shinichi to misunderstand some of it... one prophecy, two endings it shouldn't be hard to figure out one of them, even this early on, right?  
**

**In any case sorry that this chapter is so short, it mostly exists to line up one of the endings and to settle '_something_' *dum dum duuummmm* I'll let you decide on your own which part was for what if you want.  
**

**Please review, I hope you enjoy ^v^ Nya~  
**

**-._.-._.-  
**

Conan should have been alone in his room and yet I could hear two sides of a conversation, far too clearly for the second person to have been on the phone. Based on the context he was clearly talking to Shinichi... but the only voice I heard was Conan's...

"Ne, ne, Shinichi-niichan... Do you think Haibara will be okay?"

"Well, since it's Haibara I'm sure she'll be fine. She's tougher than she looks."

"You'd be worried if it were Ran-neechan..."

"Ran... Ran has nothing to do with this!"

"But Ran-neechan is also tougher than she looks... I'm sure she'd want to know..."

"We can't. I want to tell her more than anything else... but it's too dangerous, I don't want her to get hurt."

"And it's okay for Haibara to get hurt? Ran-neechan is hurting anyway being apart from you, Shinichi-niichan!"

"Do you think I don't know that? But even if she ends up hating me because of it, I want to protect her, I won't let her be involved... we can't tell her the whole truth, not until it's all over."

"But if Moonshine does manage to kill me- er us, there won't be anyone to tell Ran-neechan that you're gone too."

"That's what you've been worried about? I already told you, Conan; I won't die, not while Ran's still waiting for me, and I won't let you die either."

That conversation, was something I wasn't intended to hear, that much was certain. But it was also certain that it was something I needed to hear.

I silently cracked open the door just enough that I wouldn't be noticed, as I thought, Conan was the only one in the room.

_Shinichi and Conan are hiding something from me..._

...

Conan and I were visiting Haibara in the hospital. The gunshots had scraped her bones and done severe muscle damage, she would be there for quite a while... but that's usually what you get when you take three bullets at point blank range.

"How are you feeling?" Conan asked, I think he was trying to cheer her up, but I'm not sure how he thought asking her such a thing would have that effect.

"Crappy."

"Ah... Is- is that so?" He stammered, realizing just how stupid of a question it was. He tried to think of something to change the subject to but wasn't able to come up with anything and trailed off.

"What happened?" Haibara asked. How she managed to realize that we were hiding something from nothing more than awkward silence is beyond me.

"Eh? Wha- What do you mean...?"

Conan, just so happens to be a horrible liar, unlike me who has managed to convince my childhood friend that I am a seven year old for almost a full year while living with her and her father. So I'd say I'm a rather accomplished liar... but I guess that isn't really something to be bragging about.

"You clearly know something that you don't want me to know, so tell me," She replied very bluntly, as was her specialty. I must admit her interrogation technique is amazing, she could be a police investigator when she grows up (again) if she wants to.

"Of course not, Haibara," I said, switching with Conan quickly, hoping she wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Apparently, this was one of the rare occasions that it was stark obvious to anyone that we had switched places; her recognition that we'd switched so that I could try to convince her that nothing had happened only served to concrete her theory that something had.

"I was asking Conan."

So of course he had to tell her about our conversation with Moonshine.

Her reaction was pretty much exactly as we had expected it to be.

At least Conan was excited that Haibara no longer addressed him as 'Conan-kun' but with the more familiar 'Conan'. I couldn't help but mentally sigh at myself. _How is it that everyone -I do mean everyone- has a good love life but me..._

...

That Night: Moonshine was at the Professor's house waxing the floor in secret.

When morning came the professor slipped on the floor and broke several of his fragile, old bones. He was now sharing a hospital room with Haibara (because they are 'relatives' after all) while they both were on the mend.


	5. Shinichi Kudo doesn't like to lose

**Yup so I'm just going to outright reveal Moonshine's true identity, but not before some seemingly unnecessary rising romantic tension... this chapter is going to be pretty short too... ****If they aren't short I can't cut it off at a really tense moment every time...**** but I'm getting them out pretty quickly so that's a plus right?  
**

**I'm a bit surprised that no one's called me out on any Meitantei Conan related mistakes I've made so far... there have been quite a few (like at the end of TxM when Haibara mentioned the poison she said '4829' when the numbers are actually '4869' once I realized I thought for sure someone would call me out on it)... but none of them were initially intentional, Though I didn't bother to change any of them after realizing I made a mistake... most of the mistakes are with what people call each other anyway, not important story details.  
**

**Sorry that I keep rambling at the beginning of each chapter...Please review, I hope you enjoy ^v^ Nya~  
**

**-._.-._.-  
**

_I wish he wouldn't worry about me so much..._

_When Conan worries about me to the point that he tries to hide things like Kudo-kun does from Mouri-san... I feel so... guilty. It's all my fault that this is happening... If I hadn't helped develop Apotoxin 4869 then Kudo-kun wouldn't have been poisoned and he wouldn't be in Conan's body... Kudo-kun probably wouldn't have met with Gin and Vodka on that day, and he could live a -relatively- normal life with Mouri-san as his girlfriend and Conan as a normal younger brother._

_If it weren't for me... Akemi probably wouldn't have died either..._

_Why does everyone try so hard for my sake... how is it that none of them hate me for what I've done?_

_Even though for me we've just met, it's all because of me that Conan's life has been screwed up beyond repair, he -more than anyone else- should hate me... How can he say that he loves me like Kudo-kun loves Mouri-san..._

_How does he think it makes me feel to hear that...? I wonder... how should that make me feel? I don't even know how I feel about Conan..._

...

"Yo, Kudo"

"What are you calling about Heiji?" I asked,

"Dat brat, Moonshine, got me pretty good," Heiji responded, "He's real smart fer bein' just a brat."

I didn't like the sound of this, "What did he do to you?"

"He hasn't dun it yet," He replied, making me wonder precisely what he meant, "He sent a challenge letter ta me with de whole of Osaka as a stage. De day after tamarrow I'm gonna be chasin' a bomb threat he arranged, he's probably gonna go after ya den."

_So, to get rid of my 'allies' he doesn't necessarily intend to injure all of them... He's also giving me the date so I can plan ahead... How strange._

"De note he sent was all in Tokyo-ben. Wat did he say dat made ya think he was from Osaka neway?" Heiji suddenly asked.

"Oh... That was 'it's nice to finally meet jibun'. That's what he said, but there were a lot of strange pauses as he spoke."

After saying it myself it suddenly hit me, I understood why Moonshine said that, I knew why he paused so much when talking, and where I recognized his voice from. I hated admitting to myself that it was possible, but I was somewhat glad, it meant I wouldn't have to spend so much time thinking about that.

_So _that's_ how it is?_

I probably sounded like a manic to Heiji the way I was laughing.

Heiji was beginning to worry, "Kudo...? What's goin' on? ...Ya ok over dere?"

I managed to calm myself down for long enough to tell Heiji my discovery, "I know who Moonshine is now..."

"Eh? But... weren't ya just sayin'... -Who?"

"Shinichi Kudo."

Heiji paused for a moment as if trying to understand what I just said, it's not like he didn't understand to begin with, rather he was trying to make sure there was no other way to take those words. Once he came to the conclusion that there was -in fact- no other way to take what I'd said than 'Moonshine is Shinichi Kudo' he shouted... very loudly:

"YA'VE GOT TA BE KIDIN' ME!"

There was another short pause that was just long enough for my eardrum to heal before he continued, in a tone that was only slightly above normal volume.

"Yer sayin' dat dat Moonshine kid is yer real body an' dat he joined de evil organization dat poisoned ya- er him? An' now he's tryin' ta kill Conan yer -er his lil' brother and by exstenshin you?"

_It does sound kind of crazy when you put it that way... but doesn't me being a soul detached from my original body sharing a body with my younger brother sound almost just as crazy?_

"Precisely. If you consider the facts that my body would be experienced with crime tricks, and that without memories (because I have them so he must not) or emotions it wouldn't care if it were working for the black organization or not... then everything fits together."

"Well if ya put it dat way..." Heiji trailed off.

There was silence.

I was about to say goodbye and hang up but Heiji suddenly spoke up before hanging up from his end, leaving me speechless.

"Kudo...As yer rival... no, as yer friend, I'm tellin' ya, don't face dat guy. I should know pretty well dat 'Kudo Shinichi' doesn't like ta lose..."

I couldn't help but agree.


	6. Jinxed by a certain moonlight magician

**Never underestimate a teenaged author's ability to make things go wrong when a character says that things will turn out fine *insert evil laughter here***

**Kaito inadvertently jinxes everything and Conan's POV shows up for the first time in a while too... it's strange though, he sounds really childish but I keep making him think really deep things... darn my bad foreshadowing habits! Also Conan and Shinichi are brought down to having one(?) remaining ally!  
**

**Seriously though, from here on out nearly everything will be lining up for the ending, I'll try to include some comic relief... but when the characters are slowly being picked off one by one that's rather difficult... but I needed a way to extend the plot line and to get it so that only a select few characters could intervene for both endings so there wasn't much choice  
**

**As usual I hope you enjoy  
**

**-._.-._.-**

Meitantei-kun had called to inform me that each of his 'allies' was being directly targeted by the organization member named 'Moonshine' a while back, but I wondered how he intended to target me. Not even Meitantei-kun had managed to figure out my identity yet, he just knows my name is 'Kaito' and that I have the same face as 'Shinichi Kudo' so as long as Tantei-san (Hakuba) doesn't get involved with this my secret is safe, of course with that much information I have no doubt that Meitantei-kun could probably find me out but he's a bit preoccupied at the moment.

How will Moonshine target me then? Perhaps the same way he did the little girl, just shoot me after I make direct contact with 'Conan', or maybe he understands that one of Meitantei-chan's allies is 'Kaitou Kid' and will send out a fake heist note for the time that he plans to settle things with Meitantei-chan forcing me to go in order to save face.

From what Meitantei-kun said it's only Akako and I left... hopefully he'll target _her_ first and get cursed or something, but still I should be on guard...

There's no telling _what_ will happen, especially since Meitantei-kun just called to give me an update about who Moonshine is...

Seriously, anytime I get involved with 'Shinichi Kudo' I either wind up getting shot at, hit with a demon soccer ball, or otherwise put in danger... I wonder what will happen when there's _two_ of him around? With his _unnatural_ attraction to death... it's _almost_ guaranteed that someone is going to _die_ before all of this is over.

_Well, since it's Meitantei-kun I'm sure he'll be fine... the one I'm really worried about is..._

...

Not long after Shinichi-niichan and I had received that call from Heiji-niichan we made sure that everyone was up to date on the information so far, which means we got to go visit Haibara again cause cellphones don't work in hospitals. The visit didn't get to last very long though because visiting hours were almost over when we got there...

I really wish we'd gotten to stay longer but she was mostly talking to Shinichi-niichan anyway so I didn't mind leaving so much.

When I got home Ran-neechan asked me where I'd been, she seemed really suspicious for some reason, which is weird cause there's nothing that she should be suspicious about, it's not like I'm doing anything odd.

She kept on mentioning Shinichi-niichan and complaining about how he never ever comes back, I felt kinda bad hearing it cause I get to talk to Shinichi-niichan whenever I want to and she's always waiting on him.

But that just made me even more determined to find a way to get Shinichi-niichan back in his own body so that Haibara can fix an antidote for him. Maybe the current antidote would already fix everything... then Shinichi-niichan and Ran-neechan could be together, and me and Haibara could be together, and we could all take down that black organization. After that everything would just be the way it should be, Shinichi-niichan will go back to solving cases normally, I'll be his apprentice and I'll help him out however I can, Ran-neechan and Shinichi-niichan will probably start dating and wind up being married, and maybe when we get older (assuming Haibara doesn't decide to take the antidote too and grow up right away) Haibara and I can...

If it could really end that way it would be really great, everyone (except the people in that evil organization) could be happy and do whatever they want.

But for some reason I get the feeling that it won't be able to end that way. It might be because of that weird poem the witch lady had made up, everyone was saying that it was a prediction of the future... but it didn't sound very happy, especially not the end. Does that mean we don't get to have a happy ending after all?

Whatever, who says that the creepy witch lady's poem is right anyway? We won't know how things will end up until we try. If we act like the future has been decided then it definitely has been, but if we aim for an undecided future then who knows what might happen. If nothing else... it's at least more interesting that way, right?

...

Late that night I got a call from the witch Akako.

"When that 'deciding moment' comes, it seems I really won't be able to help either," Is what she said the moment I answered the phone.

"Did 'Moonshine' do something to you?" I asked.

Even if I had already figured out his identity it was easier to continue calling him 'Moonshine', it would feel too strange to refer to him as 'Shinichi Kudo' considering I am 'Shinichi Kudo' and he's just my body acting on it's own... I can't believe I'm trying to rationalize all this...

"Er... yes... but um... I won't tell you what he did! Er... It's a woman's right to keep secrets after all!"

Yeah, whatever. Vermouth says it all the time 'a secret makes a woman woman'. Still... based on what I've seen of Akako's personality so far, and her extremely tsundere reaction just now, he probably did something to mess up her face. Needless to say someone like her won't be leaving her house until she can fix the issue.

I didn't bother confirming my deduction.

"Well, it's actually convenient that you called, I wanted to ask you something," I said, carefully changing the subject.

She seemed a bit intrigued, "Oh? And what would that be?"

"How would I get back to my original body if I find it?"

"For the time being at least..." she sighed as if she were about to give bad news, pausing for what felt like an eternity before she continued, "It may be impossible for you."


	7. I was wearing a hat

**A long chapter this time.  
**

**I can't seem to get Akako's personality (just like with Gin last time) quite right... so Akako has been kinda ooc the whole time... because although she did give that one prophecy I mostly have her acting as something like a magic physician... I'm sorry if it's been bugging anyone.  
**

**No one's said anything about it and I've neglected to mention it before now but there actually is a hole in the reasoning that Conan did in the last chapter of TxM... I have no idea why I'm mentioning that there's a flaw in my story but I already knew it was there when I started, I'm just surprised no one's noticed...  
**

**This chapter finally has it! Situational comedy! It's relatively pointless but I love putting characters in awkward situations!  
**

**As usual I hope you enjoy and Please review (_for my sake..._)  
**

**-._.-._.-**

"What do you mean it would be _impossible_ for me right now?" Shinichi-niichan said, his tone was calm but it was clear that he was masking how he really felt.

"I'm not sure about all the details of your situation, but at the time that you left your original body and entered the current one you thought you were going to die, right?" The creepy red witch lady explained, "Your soul probably left your body because you had a strong will to live and it went into a body that was most similar to the original that it could find in the area, your strong will to live is probably also the reason why your body is able to move around on it's own despite not having a soul. In any case the only reason your soul left was because you thought you were going to die, but you've been stuck in your current body for long enough that you've gotten used to it and are no longer uncomfortable with being in it, as long as you're content like that... you probably won't be able to return."

Shinichi-niichan was at a loss after hearing her explanation. I guess I really wouldn't have known what to say either, but what she said gave me an idea... I wasn't going to try it though, not if I didn't have to.

"I saw that 'Moonshine' kid," Akako said after a slightly awkward silence, "he had the same black thing all over him that you have on your soul... It would probably be dangerous to get involved with him, but you're going to anyway aren't you... because you have the aggressiveness of the devil."

"Would you please stop saying that?" Shinichi-niichan seemed a bit annoyed by how the witch lady tended to describe him, "I'm not near as aggressive as Heiji."

"Oh-hohoho, in any case I wish you luck," She laughed before hanging up.

After that Shinichi-niichan and I went to bed because it was bedtime. When Ran-neechan woke me up in the morning she was still acting strange, I'm still not really sure why.

_Well it's probably nothing..._

...

For some reason when I/Conan was heading to the bookstore to get a copy of a new mystery book Kaito suddenly appeared -seemingly- out of nowhere.

"Hey, Meitantei-kun, it's been a while hasn't it? Or is it Meitantei-chan right now?"

_Why can't you just call me something normal? Or is it a criminal thing to call people by weird names? (Vermouth calls me 'Silver bullet-kun' after all)_ I sighed, "The first one was right. Why are you here anyway?"

"Oh~ That's mean, I just happened to be in the area so when I saw you I figured I'd say 'hi'," He replied in his usual annoyingly familiar tone, "It's a bit convenient though."

"Hmmm? Why's that?"

"That Moonshine kid sent me a-" He cut off. Rather, I cut him off when I noticed something that could be hazardous to my and Kaito's safety was nearby.

Ran was coincidentally right in front of us. She was walking in our direction, didn't seem to notice us yet, but there was no doubt that she would recognize us before we passed her.

_It shouldn't matter if Ran see's Kaito she's already met him once so as long as she didn't hear what we were saying just now it shouldn't be a problem..._ It took me a moment to realize just how bad the situation was._ It is a problem, when Ran met Kaito before it was under the pretense that Kaito was 'Conan's' older brother, but since that time she's been told the truth that Conan is really my brother... so if she sees him... logic would follow that he is 'Shinichi Kudo' and that he was lying to her._

That qualifies as '_hazardous_' right?

I quickly turned to Kaito and whispered, "Disguise yourself as me- well Shinichi Kudo, quick!"

"Eh? Again?" He whined, I'm not sure why he didn't want to seeing as he's done it four times before (A/n: Shinichi still doesn't know some of the details from the airship incident, so he thinks it's four not five and he still doesn't know what _'that'_ was.) But hesitantly he arranged his hair into my signature style.

His timing was perfect because seconds later Ran recognized us as 'Conan and Shinichi' which I suppose isn't completely wrong, she's just left someone out, "Shinichi! You're back."

It still annoyed me quite a bit just how easily Kaito could convincingly disguise himself as me, he doesn't even need a mask, and the voice that he usually uses (I assume it's his normal voice but because he can change his voice at will I can't be sure) sounds like mine too. _It's quite disturbing actually._

"Just for a little bit, I happened to be in the area on a case and I bumped into Conan," He responded nonchalantly.

"Hmm... your hair looks a little weird... did you get a haircut or something?" She asked, causing Kaito and I to worry that he had messed up on the disguise having done it so quickly.

"That, er... you see I was wearing a hat earlier and it messed my hair up a bit," He replied without breaking a sweat, then for good measure he added, "A _Sherlock Holmes_ hat."

_Oi oi, don't say such stupid things when you're pretending to be me! Sure, I have a Holmes hat but I rarely ever have any reason to actually wear it, I'd look ridiculous._

"Oh, so that's how it was," She said with a smile.

_She...She actually bought it huh?_

"Ne ne, Ran-neechan you're shopping for dinner right? If you don't hurry ojii-chan will get angry won't he?" I said, imitating Conan in my yeah-I'm-totally-a-seven-year-old voice.

"Ah that's right, why don't you two come with me?" She suggested. I could tell from experience that she intended to hurt 'Shinichi' if he didn't agree to her _suggestion_, and from the look on Kaito's face he was able to understand this as well.

His face visually showed faint signs of distress as he replied, "Sh- sure thing... Ran."

...

That was really exhausting, Meitantei-kun's girlfriend wound up dragging Meitantei-kun and I around shopping with her, under the impression that I was Meitantei-kun. When she finally had finished getting the groceries Meitantei-kun told her that he still had to go get something from the bookstore and that she should go home ahead of him, at first she was reluctant but I told her that I would go with him and walk him home before I 'left' again.

Finally after hours we had the chance to talk.

"So what were you saying before?" He asked almost as soon as she would have been out of earshot.

I was busy getting rid of 'Shinichi Kudo's' freakish cowlick, and returning my hair to it's original state as I replied, "Moonshine sent me a card that looked similar to my advance theft notices saying that he'd set it up so that a package containing frame-by-frame photos that would disprove one of my alibis to Nakamori-keibu's house tomorrow between eleven am and two pm."

I paused for a moment. Letting him process everything.

"So of course I'm going to have to knock Nakamori-keibu out during that time and intercept the package while disguised as him. Moonshine probably has something planned for you during that time."

He didn't bother to object to my plan, he seemed more curious, "You have an alibi?"

"Two actually, there were two times that Nakamori-keibu suspected me of being Kaitou Kid, and I managed to prove it was impossible both times," I explained, he was giving me a 'but you ARE Kaitou Kid' look, I added, "It's not like it's any different than what you're doing with that girlfriend of yours. It was really difficult to prove that I couldn't possibly be Kid, you know. One time I was hand-cuffed to Hakuba during the whole heist, and the other time I was on a date with Nakamori-keibu's daughter..."

I trailed off.

_What am I telling him all this for, with this much information this guy will definitely be able to figure out who I am when he's less preoccupied by this weird detached soul thing, all he would have to do is ask Nakamori-keibu if there's anyone that matches the incidents I just described and boom! I'll be in jail... then Jii-chan will go out as Kaitou Kid and I'll be proven innocent again..._

Even if that's probably what would happen, I need to stay on the safe side, "I'm stealing for a _very_ noble cause, I didn't even _want_ to be a thief at first... so _please_ don't tell any of what I just said to Nakamori-keibu. _Promise_ me that you won't."

He seemed to consider for a little bit, "Fine, I promise, but don't tell anyone my secret either."


	8. And then there were two

**Gomenasi. Though it's a bit ironic, the day after people point out that I'm a fast updater and that I've been updating everyday I actually don't do an update. Am I the only one that finds that extremely ironic? I have an excuse, but it's rather boring so I won't go into the details... lets just say I had to go to a place I don't work at's staff meeting for various reasons and then I had to visit my aunt and do family stuff while I was there so I didn't have time to finish (or if I were to have it wouldn't have been good quality... to many distractions)  
**

**There will probably wind up be ten chapters total, the next one being the ending and the last being an epilogue (but there might not be an epilogue). So at the end of this chapter is where it starts to split into the Alpha and Beta endings. That means that this -the first chapter that wasn't uploaded within 24 hours of the previous one- will be really interesting... I hope. At the very least it's long.  
**

**As usual I hope you enjoy and Please review (_for my sake..._) I thank those of you who have been reviewing, it makes me really happy.  
**

**-._.-._.-**

_That was definitely _not_ Shinichi._

I'm not sure why I was so certain, but something inside me was telling me that the Shinichi that I saw walking with Conan was not my Shinichi. Woman's intuition perhaps?

However sure I was before, I was now certain that something strange was going on, and that both Conan and Shinichi were involved in it. If I don't get involved when I know they're doing something I'll just worry, don't they know that? They're probably not getting me involved because it's dangerous, I can handle myself, Shinichi only has soccer he can't fight.

_They don't seem to want me to get involved, but... I could help. They don't have to do everything by themselves._

_Maybe If I helped Shinichi would come back sooner..._

...

It was finally the day that Moonshine and I would be having our... face off, I guess. I'm not really sure what it is he intends to do, seeing as he's had plenty of chances to attack me but hasn't yet.

Based on what he said when I met him Moonshine understands that he and I are the same person and that Conan is a different person. I wonder how he figured that out... it's not as if he has any memories to deduce it from like Conan did. I guess there's still the question of how exactly he wound up being with the black organization too... If I asked he'd probably answer, but there's no telling whether or not it'd be honest...

In any case, when I woke up that morning (I didn't have school so Ran didn't wake me up) I found a strange card next to me. Because of it's layout I at first thought that it must be from Kaitou Kid, but upon further inspection I realized that instead of Kid's doodle at the bottom of the card there was a doodle with a Sherlock Holmes hat.

'_So... that's why he said that yesterday? Kaito must have received a note like this too..._'

'_It's a cute doodle Shinichi-niichan I didn't know you could draw!'_

_'I don't really...'_

_'But Moonshine must've drawn that right? And Moonshine is you so...'_

_'I guess so...'_

The card only stated a location for us to meet, the time and date could easily be deduced from his previous actions. He even gave me this card earlier than his appointed time so I could check the place out and set up traps if I wanted... it doesn't make any sense that a member of the black organization would give me such a huge advantage, there's something seriously wrong here.

Could it be that he's trying to get captured? No if that were the case he would have encoded a message on the card.

The only thing on the card that could be considered even somewhat encrypted was the signature under the Holmes doodle. He'd signed as _Shiharoku Moonshine._

I couldn't help but wonder if I was meant to read it as 'Sherlock' or '4869'. I guess either works.

Not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, I quickly got myself ready and went to the appointed place despite it being an hour before the appointed time.

But there was nowhere I could hide, and no tricks I could set up. It was an completely empty building with only one entrance, there were no windows, no vents, no support beams, the floor and walls were both solid. There was no way to do anything to change the place without the change being obvious.

I could wait with the tranquilizer aimed at the door so I can shoot as soon as he enters, but what if he doesn't come alone, that would tip off any companions, plus he's the size that he makes a dificult target for the tranquilizer watch. Taking him down with force once he's inside, he's 'younger' than Conan so I'd have the advantage, but I'd rather not hurt Moonshine if it can be avoided, it would be troublesome if I did happen to return to my body afterward to find myself to have been beaten up by myself. I'd like to avoid the soccer ball for the same reason, I've acidently been hit by them before, I must admit Kaito's describing them as 'hellish' or 'demonic' is accurate._  
_

So what should I do... The tranquilizer seems to be the best choice, but maybe using a bit of force would be fine it doesn't seem like that witch thinks I'll be able to return to my body soon anyway.

Suddenly the door creaked, almost by instinct I reached for my watch entering a combative stance. The door slowly opened, but the person that entered was not who I had expected.

"Ran..." I said, shock taking over for a moment, after recovering from the initial shock I added, "...-neechan."

Moonshine followed her in, he had on a pitch black trench coat and held a gun, which made him appear rather intimidating for being about three feet tall. Was he using her as a hostage..._ a deal my/Conan's life for hers? That's underhanded... _I_ wouldn't do such a thing, but maybe _Shiharoku Moonshine_ would._

"Conan!" Ran gasped, probably thinking I was in danger.

_Right I guess there's no time for anything else, either the tranquilizer or the soccer ball will have to do._

**-._.-._.-**

**(****α **Alpha)

I aimed at Moonshine carefully with the tranquilizer watch and fired.

Direct hit.

...but he didn't even slow down, actually 'I' was feeling a bit drowsy, even though the tranquilizer hit him. I suppose that means that on some level 'my' consciousness is still connected to that body... Crap.

It was strange, physically I didn't feel tired at all, but mentally I waged a war on sleep, and lost.

My consciousness had already drifted away from awareness before Conan took over.

...

Shinichi-niichan is asleep -because of the tranquilizer that hit Moonshine-, Ran-neechan is confused, Moonshine -completely unaffected by the tranquilizer- is pointing a gun at me. I'd say things have certainly taken a turn for the worst.

"You're out of allies," He seemed to be more used to talking now than he was before, he wasn't pausing as much, "... Checkmate."

Ran-neechan's confusion increased.

_In this situation... what would Shinichi-niichan do? Well... it's in the pretext of the situation that he'd sleep... but still if he had a choice what would he do?_

It seemed pretty hopeless, there wasn't much I could do. I had to use that idea from earlier...

Moonshine fired.

_Hey, it's okay if I die, right?_

**-._.-._.-**

** (****β **Beta)

Moonshine is to small of a target to use the tranquilizer from this distance.

I bent over to use the anywhere ball inflating belt and kicked the soccer ball with amazing force.

For the most part it missed him, but it did hit his (my?) hand, which caused the gun that he was holding to fly behind him.

He narrowed his (my?) eyes and rushed at me pulling a new gun out a pocket in his coat.

He was right in front of me now, I hadn't had much time to react, as he pulled his gun up to aim at me...

There was a sound of a gunshot.

Red spots fell in front of me.

However, Moonshine _hadn't_ fired.


	9. DEAD END

**Well this is definitely not a typical 'happy ending' like Conan's been hoping for up until now, it's actually quite sad... either way someone 'important' dies. Not every story can have a happy ending, this just happens to have two really sad ones... a happy ending really wouldn't have suited all that foreshadowing at all.  
**

**I'll be working on making the epilogue a little bit less... depressing i guess would be the right word, they deserve at least something like a halfway happy ending after everything I've put them through...  
**

**I hope you enjoy it- er saying that makes me sound pretty evil... but I can't say I don't want you to enjoy the story... Well regardless of that please review  
**

**-._.-._.-**

**(α Alpha)**

_If Shinichi-niichan probably won't return to his original body because he's gotten used to being like this... then it's alright for me to die, isn't it? Something needs to happen so that something can change...  
_

_More so than me, the world needs Shinichi-niichan. _

If not him there's no one that can face that evil organization on even terms, I only came close because Shinichi-niichan is with me. On his own in his own body he could do much better than he can like this.

_It's better, right? Ran-neechan and Shinichi-niichan can have their happy ending like this._

I probably could have avoided it if I tried, it would have only scraped me if I hadn't moved at all, I bet if he were awake Shinichi-niichan would have tried to stop me. I moved into the path of the bullet, Moonshine fired another shot, then another.

None of the shots on their own were fatal, but the wounds were all bleeding a lot, and it really hurt. That didn't really matter, I could endure the pain, it was for the sake of getting Shinichi-niichan back where he belongs.

_It hurts... so bad... I'm really dying, aren't I?_

I was wrong, I couldn't take it. I collapsed onto the ground, but so did Moonshine.

_I'm sorry... Haibara..._

_Goodbye..._

…

I woke on the hard ground of the empty warehouse where Conan and I had been fighting Moonshine. My body hurt all over. At first my eyesight was blurred, I could barely see anything, but slowly it began to clear.

_Ran's crying... _I could hear her. She was saying something too, I couldn't quite tell what it was though. _Why is she..._

"...n...an...onan...Conan. Conan!" She was shouting... for me, or rather Conan.

I tried moving a little bit. I felt fine_... why is she so worried?_

After a half-exhausted fumble I managed to stand up, that when I saw what she was shouting about. I immediately pieced together what had happened while I was asleep.

Conan let Moonshine shoot him so that I would be able to return to my body because of the near death experience... It worked, but at far to great a cost...

_I just... killed my little brother..._

Ran seemed to register that I had gotten off the ground and was looking at her, she quickly moved into a defensive position as if she intended to challenge me to get revenge. I lifted my hands in truce and approached her and Conan.

I checked Conan for a pulse. _No good. He's already gone._

"Ran..." I said, it was difficult to speak, "...I can explain."

Her expression was still tense, but she seemed to be a bit curious.

_How do I explain... there's no way I can leave out the most important information, I'll probably have to explain it to the police too. With Ran as a witness and the murder weapon in my hand... no tricks. Just the truth._

"I... I should have told you everything a long time ago... maybe it wouldn't have turned out this way if I had..." I trailed off, I was afraid to say what needed to be said.

_This is no time to be choking on my own words! She needs to hear this!_

"I am Shinichi," I said reluctantly, to be clear I added pointing at Conan, "Until just a moment ago... I was right there."

She didn't want to trust me, and for the moment I was sure sure she wouldn't believe me even if I told her everything, but despite that I told her the whole truth that I had been hiding from her up until now.

And the rest, well... it went as you would probably imagine.

**-._.-._.-**

**(****β **Beta)

Moonshine fell -barely still breathing- on me, but soon he stopped moving, then breathing. I already knew he'd died, and if not it would be impossible to get to a hospital in time to prevent an inevitable death. I moved myself out from under him and laid him down properly.

The gun had fallen out of Moonshine's hands when I'd kicked a soccer ball at him... was now in Ran's hands. A small trail of smoke rose from it and the gunshot sound still shook the air.

As a detective there was only one possible conclusion:

Ran shot Moonshine to protect me... no to protect Conan. She was the culprit.

In her defense she probably wasn't trying to kill him, she probably only intended to wound him so he wouldn't hurt 'me'. In such a situation I can't imagine her being able to accurately aim a gun, she probably aimed for the hand that he was holding his gun in.

She won't go to jail for doing something like this, though it may be difficult to prove that the five year old had actually been about to attack. Actually it would be very difficult explaining any of this to the police without telling them my and Conan's secret.

"Ran-neechan! You...You just...! But... that was... What have you...?" Conan was going into shock, I couldn't blame him, I was quite surprised myself. I was only able to keep acting calm because the situation had just gone so far beyond the realms of normalcy that I was having trouble processing all of the harsh details.

_Ran killed 'Shinichi Kudo'. There's no chance I'll ever be able to return to my real body now... it's over..._

It should be some consolation that the person she killed didn't have a soul at the time, it was more or less a living doll before even she shot. But there was no way I could tell her that, because that would mean having to tell her that the person she shot was 'Shinichi Kudo', and that he died because of the shot.

The worst thing I could ever do would be to tell her that she had killed the Shinichi she had been waiting for.

"Ran-neechan... it's okay, you weren't trying to..." I said, borrowing Conan's voice for a little bit, he didn't mind, and I didn't either.

_Staying in this situation for just a little bit longer... if it'll make her feel better I don't mind._

_So just for a little longer I'll be 'Conan'.  
_


	10. epilouge

**I'm just going to go ahead and say that I'm sorry that in the scope of one chapter -with multiple endings- I not only killed Conan and 'Shinichi' (though his soul is still in Conan, but his body died) I also turned both Shinichi and Ran into murderers... from a Meitantei Conan fan's viewpoint I must seem like a horrible person to have been planning those endings since chapter two. There were happier endings I could have used but they would have just felt fake or cliqued so I went with the depressing ones...  
**

**Anyway this is the epilogue... after this there will be no more for this story, sorry that they're both short. I'll probably wind up writing another Meitantei Conan story sometime soon, I already have a few ideas that I could use ... but I guarantee nothing.  
**

**Ah! THANK YOU EVERYBODY! If I say it in all caps does that make up for not addressing you individually? I would have specified if I could have but I don't know who most of you are so I kinda can't. But I'd like to thank everyone who has read this far, especially those who reviewed!  
**

**With that said, I hope you've enjoyed reading up until now as much as I've enjoyed writing this story, and I hope you enjoy this epilogue as well. If it's not too much to ask please review.  
**

**-._.-._.-**

**(α Alpha)**

Ran believed what Shinichi said, and let him get away without being blamed for murdering Conan. When the police arrived she told them that it was related to the case that Shinichi was working on, but she didn't say any more than that.

Shinichi continued to fight against the black organization -now from the inside- as 'Shiharoku Moonshine', and eventually he was able to defeat them -or at least on the surface, there were remaining members that had managed to get away. He continued to work on cases relating to them for the rest of his life.

Eventually, Haibara was able to develop a permanent antidote for Apotoxin 4869 using data from experiments the black organization had done involving it after she had left. Shinichi took it and returned to his original life with Ran, but Haibara (or rather Shiho Miyano) blamed herself for Conan's death and stayed a child as a twisted form of retribution continuing to live with the professor as Haibara Ai.

At some point Ran and Shinichi were finally able to be honest about their feelings for each other, they dated for a while but got married shortly afterward.

And after a few years the lovey-dovey couple of karate champion girl and detective boy had a cute son, named Conan after his father's dead younger brother. He loved going along with his dad on cases and eventually became a well known detective himself.

**-._.-._.-**

**(****β **Beta)

Conan and Shinichi continued to share a body for quite a while without telling Ran.

Haibara gave up on creating an antidote, or at least a medicine that would make Conan's body accelerate by ten years, even if in appearances it would bring Shinichi back it would also mean shortening Conan's lifespan -probably. At some point she and Conan wound up getting together, much to Mitsuhiko's disappointment/surprise.

Shinichi still called Ran -via the voice changing bow tie- from time to time, but as years passed he stopped calling, he no longer knew how 'Shinichi Kudo's' voice would have sounded, but he continued to text her. Even though he'd lost all hope of ever returning, he knew that she wouldn't be able to cope with it if 'he' told her to forget about him.

Eventually Ran moved on after having not seen Shinichi or heard his voice in so long. Shortly afterward Shinichi disappeared for good and was never heard from again.

**-._.-._.-  
**

**THE END**


End file.
